


FIC: Ways of Our Lives [G, Bandom]

by pikasafire



Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-24
Updated: 2010-07-24
Packaged: 2017-10-21 23:45:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/231207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pikasafire/pseuds/pikasafire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five snapshots from the lives of the Way brothers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	FIC: Ways of Our Lives [G, Bandom]

  
*  
  
**BIG BROTHER**

Mikey is 6 months  
Gerard is 4 years

*

Gerard's first memory is about Mikey. So many things in his life are.

He remembers being quite small, standing outside Mikey's nursery, listening to him cry.

"S'okay, Mikey," Gerard told the door, seriously. "I'll get someone."

He headed to the kitchen, where his mom was sitting at the table surrounded by colourful papers, numbers scrawled all over them. "Mom. Mikey's crying."

She'd laughed a little and bent to press a kiss to the top of his head. "I know, honey. Don't worry, he'll go to sleep in a moment. Go play, all right? Lunch'll be ready soon," and Gerard had nodded.

Instead of playing, he ended up standing back in front of Mikey's door, the noise making him anxious.

He didn't like it when Mikey cried. Babies weren't supposed to cry. Or, if they did, moms and dads were supposed to make it better.

After all, what if Mikey was scared? What if he'd fallen out of the crib?

Gerard nodded decisively. Obviously, he'd have to check. He'd be no kind of big brother at all if he didn't. He went to his room and pulled the little chair out from behind the play table. He should be tall enough. He dragged it behind him, the wooden legs knocking the back of his bare heels, and propped it up next to Mikey's door, regarding it thoughtfully before climbing up. Gerard paused, glanced around to make sure his mom wasn't about to spring out and demand to know what he was doing, then turned the handle, jumping off the small chair and sneaking inside.

He made his way to the crib in the corner.

"Hi Mikey," Gerard said, peering through the bars.

Mikey was all red, his tiny face wet with tears. His cries were intermittent as he struggled mightily against sleep.

"It's okay." Gerard's hands were small enough he could just squeeze them through the bars, stroking the fuzz on Mikey's head as softly as he could. He wished he could pick him up and cuddle him. Mom would let him hold Mikey sometimes, arranging Mikey's tiny little body on Gerard's lap, showing him how to make sure his head was held right and that both of them were leaning against the cushion behind Gerard's back.

Gerard stayed standing silently next to the crib, watching over Mikey as Mikey's eyelashes fluttered closed against his damp cheeks, frantic cries giving way to soft and even breaths. If Gerard couldn't hold him, he'd at least make sure nothing could hurt Mikey while he was sleeping.

The creak of the door behind him made him jump, and he let go of the bars and turned around guiltily.

"Gerard," his mom sighed, quietly. "Come on, let Mikey sleep."

Gerard waited until he was out the room before saying anything. "Mom, he was _crying_."

"Babies tend to do that." His mom smiled and Gerard frowned at her. She obviously didn't get it at _all_.

"I wanted to make sure he wasn't hurt," he said. "He could have fallen out. I'm a good big brother."

He was squished so abruptly in his mom's arms that he squawked a little. "Moooom!"

"You're the best big brother, Gee," she told him, seriously. "Never stop looking after him, okay?"

Gerard remembers being confused by that. Of course he wasn't going to stop. That would be stupid.

The ruckus in the bus brings him back to the present, and he smiles a little, watching as Frank and Mikey’s argument over Guitar Hero degenerates into a childish shoving war.

Gerard grins. This time Mikey can fend for himself.

*

**SHADOWS**

Mikey is 5  
Gerard is 8

*

"Gerard! Stop it!"

"I'm not doing anything!"

"Yes you are!" Mikey shrieks. "Stop it!"

Donna sighs at the noise from outside and raises her voice to shout from the kitchen. "Gerard, could you _please_ leave your brother alone?"

"But I'm not doing anything!"

"Mom!"

Mikey sounds dangerously close to tears when Donna rolls her eyes and steps outside to try and figure out what's going on. "Gerard!"

"But - "

"I don't know what you're doing, but you can stop it."

"He's _stepping_ on my _head_."

"I am not! It's just your shadow, stupid!"

"Don't call Mikey stupid." It's an automatic response Donna's pretty sure she must use about five times a day.

"Yeah! Don't call me stupid!" Mikey echoes.

"Well, don't _be_ stupid!"

"Gerard!" It's sharper this time.

Mikey pokes his tongue out in victory, and Gerard's eyes narrow for a second before he grins, taking a leaping jump and landing right on the head of Mikey's shadow.

Mikey bursts into noisy tears. "Mom!"

"Gerard, go to your room."

"But - "

"Now." Donna pretends she doesn't notice the way he deliberately stomps over Mikey's shadow on his way back inside and instead kneels down to give Mikey a hug. "You know Gerard stepping on your shadow can't hurt you, right?"

"But I don't _like_ it," he sniffles, rubbing his eyes.

"He's your brother, he's going to do lots of things you don't like. Ignore him. If you pretend you don't care, he'll get bored and go away."

"I don't _want_ a brother." It’s the epitome of petulant, and Donna hides a smile.

"Well, sorry, kiddo, you're stuck with him. And you'd miss him if he were gone, wouldn't you?"

"No!" Mikey says, jaw set stubbornly. "I wouldn't have to share ANYTHING."

"And you'd have no one to play with." Donna stands up and holds out a hand. "C'mon, let’s go inside, and I'll get you some juice, and Gerard's going to apologise." Mikey nods, slipping his sticky hand into hers. "Believe me, Mikey, you'll love having Gee around when you're older."

Mikey very much doubts it, but he’ll give her the benefit of the doubt for a glass of juice.

*

**WHERE THERE'S SMOKE**

Mikey is 14  
Gerard is 17

*

"Can I have one?"

Gerard jumps, burning himself on the cherry of his cigarette. "Ow! Motherfucker!" He shakes his hand out. "Jesus, Mikey. Make some fucking noise next time."

"I did. I asked if I could have one."

" _Before_ you're standing behind me. Shit. I thought you were Mom."

Mikey shrugs and sits down on the step next to him, holding out his hand for the pack.

Gerard just stares at him. "What?"

"Give me one."

"Mikey, you're like, fourteen. I'm not letting you smoke."

Mikey just stares back. "I'll tell Mom that you smoke. Or about the alcohol under your bed. Or maybe about the gay porn under your mattress."

"... you're a conniving fucker." Gerard barks out a laugh, but he hands over the pack with a shrug. After all, he's smoking, so he doesn't really have the right to tell Mikey he can't. "You smoked before?"

Mikey nods, and Gerard watches him light it, impressed despite himself when Mikey doesn't cough and gag like Gerard did the first few times he smoked.

"Who have you been getting them from before now?" Gerard asks curiously, slipping the pack back into his hoodie pocket.

"Wentz."

"PETE Wentz?"

"Yeah."

"Huh. Since when are you friends with him?"

Mikey just shrugs again. "He knows of a whole bunch of good gigs." He looks down, digging the toe of his dirty sneaker into the patchy grass. "And he's been teaching me to play bass."

Gerard grins. "We could make a band."

Mikey snorts, taking another drag of his cigarette. "What would you play? Tambourine?"

"Shut up. Or you can't have any more of my cigarettes."

"And then I'll tell Mom about your porn stash."

"And I'll tell Mom about _your_ porn stash."

"I don't have one."

"Liar."

"I don't!"

"I'll _put_ some in your room and then tell Mom about it." Gerard thinks for a moment. "Wait. You mean to tell me you can get your hands on cigarettes, alcohol and illegal downloads, but you can't get porn? Fuck, that's lame."

Mikey's blushing. "Shut up. Maybe I don't _want_ any."

"Ha! Last I knew, you’re fourteen and have a dick. Of course you want porn."

"We're not all obsessed like you, Gerard."

Gerard laughs. "Yeah. Whatever. Did your dick drop off?"

"Fuck off."

Gerard flicks his cigarette butt into the flowerbed, fumbling in his pocket for the crumpled pack. He pulls one out and offers the pack to Mikey again. "So," he says, "who's Alicia?"

The effect is instantaneous, Mikey's face burning a bright red. "No one," he mutters. "How do you know about her?"

"My room isn't the only one without a lock."

"Stay the fuck out of my room."

"Unlikely. So. Who is she? Your girlfriend?"

"No," Mikey mutters, hunching into his hoodie. "Just a friend of Pete's."

Gerard raises his eyebrow. "Well, aiming high, are we?" Now Mikey mentions it, Gerard's pretty sure he knows who she is. "Black hair? Eyeliner? Thin? Mouthy?"

"Yeah. That's her," he sighs, "and I know. Shut up."

"I think she's in my English class," Gerard grins. "Should I tell her how you feeeeeeeeel?"

"Don't you fucking dare," Mikey says fiercely. "Tell her and I'll tell Frank."

"Tell Frank what?"

"That you want to suck his brains out through his dick."

"... no, I don't."

"Uh, yeah you do." He says it like it should be obvious.

"No I don't! He's just a KID."

Mikey smirks. "Paedophile."

Gerard stands up, crushing the rest of his smoke under the toe of his shoe and kicking it under the porch with the others. "You're an evil little fucker, Mikeyway."

Mikey grins and shrugs, holds his hand out. "Leave me the pack, Gee."

Gerard sighs, long suffering, but tosses over the remaining cigarettes. "Don't smoke them all," he warns, "or I'll murder you."

Mikey waves him off, slipping them into his hoodie. "Night."

"Night." Gerard rolls his eyes, ducking back into the house. That kid will be a force to be reckoned with in a few years.

*

**STAGE FRIGHT**

Early MCR days

*

"I don't know if I can do this," Mikey mutters to himself, his hand sweaty and tight around the neck of his bass. He swallows compulsively, trying to stem the nausea which threatens to make him puke all over the stage. Gerard's already been sick twice. Mikey's not sure how much of that is the alcohol and how much is nerves. He's betting fifty-fifty.

He takes a breath, pushes his glasses up his nose, and goes to find Ray.

Ray doesn't really look like he's faring much better, leaning against the wall outside the men's room, looking pale and shaky. "I don't know if I can do this," Ray says, and Mikey nods.

"Where's Gee?"

Ray gestures to the door. "Puking."

Mikey pulls his bass strap over his head and hands it to Ray. "Meet you next to the stage in 10?"

"Yeah. Yeah, okay."

Mikey pushes through the doors, wrinkling his nose at the smell of piss and vomit. "Gerard?"

"Mikey?" It's quiet and pathetic.

Mikey follows the noise, tapping on the door of the last cubicle. "C'mon, Gee." He pushes on the door. It isn't latched. Gerard's squeezed himself between the toilet and the wall, knees pulled up to his chest.

"Can't go out there," Gerard says, swallowing, his face green.

Mikey closes the toilet lid, flushes, and sits down, running his fingers through Gerard’s greasy hair. "Well, they're not going to be able to hear you from in here."

"The acoustics are probably better."

Mikey laughs a little. "Gee. It'll be fine - it always is."

Gerard rests his head on Mikey's thigh, silent for a moment. "Yeah... okay."

*

**BABY BANDIT**

Mikey is 27  
Gerard is 31

*

Mikey pokes his head through yet another doorway. Fucking rabbit warren hospitals.

He smiles to himself as he pokes his head into the right room, seeing Lyn-Z, pale and exhausted, Gerard perched on the bed next to her, his fingertips brushing a pink hospital blanket held in Lyn-Z's arm.

They look beautiful together like this. Mikey briefly considers slipping out and coming back later, but Gerard glances up, looking tired but ecstatic, and grins over at him.

"Hi guys." Mikey stands in the doorway, feeling a little out of place. "Congratulations."

"Mikey. Mikey, come see her." Gerard presses a kiss to Lyn-Z's hair, lifting the baby gently out of her arms and standing up.

Mikey steps forward, looking down at the tiny newborn cradled carefully in Gerard's arms. "She's so _tiny_ ," he whispers, brushing a finger over a little fist. She's sleeping soundly, dark tufts of hair sticking every which way. "She's beautiful, Gee."

"Bandit Lee Way," Gerard murmurs. "Only twelve hours old. Do you want to hold her?" He smiles and Mikey's heart clenches a little. He doesn't think he's ever seen Gerard this happy, this _peaceful_ before.

"Yeah. Yeah, I do." She's fragile and so incredibly small, and Mikey shifts his grip, not wanting to drop her. He's pretty sure the brotherly code of forgiveness doesn't stretch as far as dropping his newborn niece.

"You're the first to see her," Gerard says, and Mikey doesn't think Gerard will ever stop beaming.

"I - what?"

"I wanted you to be the first to see her." He looks down at his daughter in Mikey's arms and runs a finger over her nose. "This is Uncle Mikey, baby girl. You are absolutely, never to trust his taste in boys."

Lyn-Z laughs from the bed, watching them fondly.

"Oh, come _on_ Gee, Pete was like, _four_ years ago." Mikey smiles down at the baby, bouncing her a little. "And guess what, Bandit? He has a beautiful little boy you can play with."

"Oh _no_. No _WAY_."

Mikey starts to argue, but Bandit yawns, and Mikey stops, enthralled with this tiny human being as she fidgets and makes a little noise of discontent. "Hey there, baby."

Then she opens her mouth, letting out a piercing wail.

"Uh - " Mikey looks at Gerard, eyes wide. "Jesus. Gee! Take her!"

Gerard takes the squirming infant, looking about as uncomfortable as Mikey feels, and hands her over to Lyn-Z, who takes her with ease.

"She's just hungry." Lyn-Z says, cradling Bandit in one arm as she loosens her shirt with the other.

Mikey flushes and looks away.

Lyn-Z notes Mikey's discomfort with amusement and takes pity on him. "Boys. Go outside. Get some food. Bring me something that isn't hospital goop." She glances up at Mikey. "Alicia outside? Send her in."

Mikey nods, preoccupying himself with texting the room number to Alicia, keeping his eyes carefully averted as he leaves. Lyn-Z laughs, unconcerned.

"I could've gone my whole life without seeing your wife's breasts," Mikey mutters as he and Gerard fall into step, heading through the maze of wards.

Gerard blinks. "Huh." He pauses, and for the first time all day, he looks shell-shocked. "Mikey." He stops in the middle of the corridor. "Mikey. I'm a _DAD_."

"Yeah," Mikey laughs. "Yes, you are."

"... what if I fuck it up?"

"You won't."

"But - "

"Gee, she's not even a day old yet. save your panicking for when her first word is 'fuck', or the first time she swallows something she shouldn't have. Or when she wants to date."

"Oh my _God_. She's going to want to date." Gerard looks horrified.

"Well… not today. Probably. Unless there’s some cute newborn in the next crib that catches her eye."

"Mikey - "

"Chill, Gerard. Come on. Let's go find our wives some flowers or candy or some shit - what the hell do you buy someone who's just given birth? I’m sure Bandit has enough geeky paraphernalia already. And you can tell me about your plans for your new daughter." Mikey grins, unable to resist stirring Gerard up a little. "So. When are you going to give Bandit a brother or sister of her own to torture, like you tortured me?"

Gerard snorts. "I never tortured you."

Mikey just stares at him, incredulous. "Did you live through the same childhood I did? Coz, you know, there was a fuck ton of torturing."

"You're just soft."

"Fuck you. You were _horrible_ to me!"

"I had to get six stitches because of you!" Gerard objects, "You were just as bad!"

"YOU sprayed me with poison!"

"You set fire to my art books!"

"Because you dismembered my bears! Totally justified!"

"Oh yeah. Fuck, that was funny."

"I had nightmares for weeks," Mikey mutters, but he's smiling.

They walk in companionable silence, and Gerard slings his arm around Mikey's waist. "Maybe in a few years we'll give her a sibling she can annoy," he muses, grinning at Mikey. "Then when they grow up, they can start a their own band."

"... you're an evil man, Geeway."

*

END

.


End file.
